USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 10
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In 1855 a contract was made with E. W. Serrell & Co., under which some work was done, and another in January, 1856; but, owing to the inability of the company to comply with its conditions, it became inop. erative, and July 30th. 1856, another contract was made with Herman Haupt & Co., by which the railroad company agreed to pay the sum of $3,800,000 for completing the road and tunnel under certain conditions of payment. The company proving unable to comply with these conditions. another contract was made between the same parties. February 18th.
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427
GENFRAL HISTORY.
1858, in which Hanpt & Co. assumed all the stock, which was increased to $1,100,000, making the total amount of the contract $4,000,000.
Under the previous contracts the tunnel had been commenced, and a portion of the road, west of North Adams, graded. The work was vigorously prosecuted, and through the exertions mainly of Mr. Hanpt the several towns through which the railroad passes subscribed to the stock, but on such conditions as to be available only to a limited extent.
October 6th, 1858, the first installment of $100,000 of the State loan was paid. In 1859 various changes were made by the State in the loan act passed in 1854. ,
In July, 1861, when there still remained a large amount of work to be performed to complete the same in a substantial manner, the State engineer refusing to give a certificate for the amount claimed by the con- tractors, and Mr. Haupt being called to Washington by the secretary of war to take charge of the bureau of military railroads, the work was abandoned. Mr. Haupt had completed the railroad from North Adams to the Vermont line in 1858, and the Southern Vermont, a short time pre- viously, portions of the line east of the tunnel, 2,300 linear feet of the east end of the tunnel and 550 feet at the west end.
April 28th, 1862. the Legislature authorized the appointment of three commissioners to investigate the subject of finishing the Troy & Green field Railroad and of tunnelling the Hoosac Mountain : to report to the governor and council what, in their judgment, would be the most eco- nomical, practical, and advantageous method of completing railroad and tunnel, etc. Under the authority of this act Messrs. John W. Brooks, S. M. Felton, and Alexander Holmes were appointed. They reported. February 28th, 1863, and their report was accompanied by reports of Messrs. Storrow, upon European tunnels, and Latrobe and Laurie upon the Hoosac Tunnel.
November 12th, 1862. the State had expended, including $200, 000 paid the purchase of the Southern Vermont and $175,000 appropriated for the settlement of land damages, and in interest, $1.162,041.61, and the towns along the line $126,500.
During 1862 the State, through its commissioners, secured possession of the Troy & Greenfield and Southern Vermont Railroads by foreclosure and purchase. Between 1862 and January 16th, 1869, the State assumed the work and expended $2,683,585.25 on the tunnel. extended the east heading into the mountain one mile, the enlargement to double track about one half a mile on the west end, the heading four fifths of a mile. 931 feet had been arched and the central shaft sunk toa depth of 593 feet.
December 24th, 1868, the State made a contract with Walter Shanley. of Montreal, and Francis Shanley, of Toronto, for the completion of the tunnel and one railroad track through it for the lump sum of $4,594,268. to be completed March Ist, 1874, with power to extend the time to Sep- tember 1st with the consent of the governor and council. There were twelve bids for the work, varying from 84,027, 780 to $5.378,354.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
The Shanleys pushed the work vigorously and completed the central shaft, and the headings from this and the east end of the tunnel met De- cember 12th, 1872, and from the west end November 27th, 1873.
February 9th, 1875, the first train of cars passed through, but little more than five months beyond the time allowed for the completion of the work, greater of its kind than any that had preceded it. October 13th following, the first passenger train passed through from Boston to Troy, and April 5th, 1875. the first through freight, consisting of twenty-two carloads of grain.
The surveys for and the establishment of the tunnel line were made by Thomas Doane, in 1863. During its construction under the Shanley contract, Benjamin D. Frost was chief engineer. B. D. Frost at the west end. A. W. Locke at the east, and C. O. Wederkinck at the central shaft. So accurate was their work that the variation in the alignment when the headings met was less than an inch. and in the levels less than three inches. The total length of the tunnel is 25,081 feet, or four and three- quarter miles. On its completion, during the session of the Legislature, in 1875, an exciting contest arose as to whether it were best to consoli- date the Troy & Greenfield with other roads, so as to make a consolidated line from Boston to Troy, or for the State to retain its control, and permit any connecting road to use it on equal terms. The latter policy prevailed and has resulted immensely to the advantage of the towns along its line. as it gives competing lines an opportunity to reach them. On the adop- tion of this policy Jeremiah Prescott was appointed general manager July 1st, 1875 ; Austin Bond, treasurer; Edward Hamilton, secretary ; William P. Granger, chief engineer; and Thomas Doane, consulting en- gineer. On the resignation of Mr. Prescott, Mr. A. W. Locke was ap- pointed manager in his place.
While the construction of the Poughkeepsie bridge was under dis- cussion in Boston, Providence, and elsewhere, in 1874 and 1875, the writer, while located in Boston as a civil engineer, becoming convinced, from an examination of a topographical map of the State, that a shorter and more direct route to Poughkeepsie could be had through southwest ern Massachusetts than that by the zigzag course of the New York & New England or Connecticut Western through Connecticut, then talked of, made his first trip to Berkshire county in the summer of 1875. to ex plore. The route appearing feasible, in November a line of levels was run, with the assistance of E. G. Gushee, George T. Sampson, E. A. Brock, and Frank A. May. During the summer of 1876 a preliminary survey was made, with Charles Slocum, Charles Hatch. Ashton H. Pratt. F. F. Dogett, Kimball Plympton, and W. G. Smith as assistants This survey confirmed the feasibility of the route, a portion of which is iden- tical with the line surveyed and proposed by Mr. Morgan fifty years before.
July 17th, 1876, a preliminary organization was made with Egbert Hollister, president ; David Dalzell, treasurer ; M. S. Bidwell, Charles
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429
GENERAL HISTORY.
J. Eames, H. T. Robbins, A. L. Hubbell, O. C. Whitbeck, and V. M. Has- keli, of Berkshire county; and Hon. H.G. Eastman, of Poughkeepsie, P. P. Dickinson, of New York, and William D. Hilton, of Providence, as directors.
During the Legislative session of 1878 the company as then organized petitioned for a State loan of $1,000,000, to assist them in building their road from the State line of Massachusetts, in the town of Egremont, through southern Berkshire and western Hampden counties to the Con- necticut River. This was asked as a matter of justice to the towns of Otis, Sandisfield, and Tolland (through which the line would pass) in assist- ing them to railroad facilities which the State had already promised. and because the New York & New England was at the same time a petitioner for a loan of 86,000,000 for the purpose of purchasing and extending a road in Connecticut to Fishkill, to which point this line through Massa- chusetts is several miles the shorter.
Although the railroad commissioners reported adversely to their pe- tition, and in favor of the loan of $6,000,000 to be expended in Connecti- cut by the New York & New England, the Legislature gave as large a vote for a substitute bill for the loan to the Boston & Poughkeepsie of- fered by General William S. King, of Boston, as to that for a loan to the New York & New England, recommended by the railroad committee. Another substitute bill, by General King, for a contribution of the State's stock in the New York & New England, which might probably have passed, was withdrawn, at the suggestion of a friend of the enterprise. with the expectation that another bill, which would have secured the same result, would be presented, and which if it had been presented would undoubtedly have been carried. As it was not, the previous withdrawal of the second bill has delayed the carrying out of the project until the completion of enterprises intimately related to it.
CHAPTER XXII.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Berkshire Jubilee .- Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society .- Berkshire County Bible Society .- Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society .- Berkshire Branch of the Wo- men's Board of Missions .- Berkshire County Sunday School Union .- Capital Crimes in Berkshire.
( NE of the most interesting events that ever occurred in the county of Berkshire was the reunion, in 1844. of those who had gone forth from the county and become widely separated.
A gentleman, who was led by his official relations to travel exten- sively in this country, found people from Berkshire in nearly every prin- cipal city and State, and learned that many of these were unaware of the Berkshire origin of some of those with whom they had frequent busi- ness, political, or ecclesiastical relations. On his occasional return here he found that many of the citizens were ignorant of the fact that distin- guished men had emigrated from their vicinity, or, in some cases, from their own towns. The idea was therefore conceived of bringing together as many as possible of these emigrants, with the view of establishing among them a fraternal feeling, and arousing among the citizens of the county an interest and a landable pride in the fame and usefulness of its sons.
In passing over the railroad west from Albany this gentleman chanced to meet Hon. Joshua A. Spencer. of Oneida county. N. Y .; the subject was briefly discussed, and the programme for the occasion was made on a card, substantially as followed afterward. This programme was-a sermon, a poem, an oration, and a dinner, " where talk might be had ad libitum."
The matter was taken up by the emigrants from Berkshire in New York, a committee of these emigrants, and another of the citizens of the county were appointed, the name " Berkshire Jubilee" was given to the prospective gathering, auxiliary town committees were appointed. and arrangements were made for the jubilee to be held on the 22d and 23d days of August, 1844.
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GENERAL HISTORY.
The programme of public exercises was arranged to be an oration by Hon. Joshua A. Spencer, of Utica, N. Y., a poem by Rev. William Allen. D.D., of Northampton, a sermon by Rev. Mark Hopkins, D.D., of Williams College, and odes and poems by several authors. The citi- zens of Pittsfield and other towns in the county offered their hospitality without stint of labor, time, or money.
Governor George N. Briggs was president of the jubilee, and forty- seven vice presidents were appointed. On the morning of the 22d the visitors were received at the town hall, where an address of welcome was given by Thomas A. Gold, Esq., and a response was made by Rev. R. S. Cook. In the afternoon a procession moved from the park to the emi- nence west from the village, since known as Jubilee Hill. This elevation had then but a single house, the homestead built by the patriotic Dr. Timothy Childs. The place is now thickly populated. Here a speakers' stand and seats for an audience of several thousand had been prepared. and five or six thousand people assembled. The assembly was dispersed by a shower of rain, but quickly reassembled in the old First Church where the able sermon of Rev. Dr. Hopkins was preached, and Rev. Dr. Allen read a beautiful historical and sentimental poem of a hundred and eight stanzas. Two graceful poems written by William Pitt Palmer, en- titled "The Mother Land's Home Call," and "The Response of the Home Comers." were read by Hon. Julius Rockwell. In the forenoon of the 23d a still larger assemblage than on the previous day gathered on Jubilee Hill, where. after prayer by Rev. David Dudley Field, and a song, " Come to the old roof tree," written for the occasion by a lady. the eloquent oration of Hon. Joshua A. Spencer was delivered. Charles Sedgwick, Esq., then read a long and beautiful ode to Berkshire by Miss Frances Ann Kemble. Hon Ezekiel Bacon read the " Stockbridge Bowl." furnished for the occasion by Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, and an ode. written by the same lady, was sung. An ode " To the Hills that Cradled Childhood's Home," by Mrs. Laura Hyde, was read, and Mrs. Hemaus' Hymn of the Mountain Christians- "For the strength of the hills we bless Thee" was sung. In the afternoon the assembly gathered on the grounds of the Young Ladies' Institute, where under a large pavilion tables had been arranged for more than three thousand persons, and nearly that number took seats for dinner. After the removal of the cloth and a brilliant speech by the president. Governor Briggs, the remainder of the day was occupied by sentiments and speeches, all pertinent to the occasion, and many of them eloquent. Dr. O. W. Holmes, after a brief but brilliant speech, read his beautiful poem written for the occasion and since published among his other poems, commencing " Come back to your mother, ye children." Speeches and sentiments were given by Hou. Marshall S. Bidwell, of New York ; Drake Mills, Esq .. N. Y. : Judge Charles A. Dewey, Northampton ; Thomas Allen, St. Louis : Hon. John Mills, Springfield ; C. B. Gold, Buffalo ; Reuel Smith. New York ; Theo- dore Sedgwick, New York ; the tragedian, Macready, England ; Mr. Col-
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
den, New York ; Dr. Charles Goodrich, Brooklyn ; Rev. Heman Hum- phrey, D. D., president of Amherst College; Josiah Quincey, New Hamp- shire ; David Dudley Field, Esq., New York ; Professor Chester A. Dewey, Esq., Rochester, N. Y. ; Joshua N. Danforth, Alexandria, D. C .; Rev. J. C. Brigham, D. D., New York ; Hon. Timothy Childs, Roches- ter, N. Y. : Dr. L. A. Smith, Newark, N. J. ; Silas Metcalf, Kinderhook, N. Y. ; Rev. Orville Dewey, D. D., New York ; T. Joy, Esq., Albany ; D. C. Whitewood, Michigan ; William T. Palmer, New York ; and Hon. Julius Rockwell, who read a sentiment sent by Mrs. Sigourney.
Judge Samuel R. Betts, chairman of the New York committee, made the farewell address in behalf of the visitors, to which Rev. Dr. Todd, chairman of the Berkshire county committee, responded.
The committee of arrangements had caused to be prepared a register in which they invited visiting emigrants to record their names, places of residence, etc. The following names were entered on this register. Of these some were residents of Berkshire county as early as 1775.
J. C. Brigham, New York ; Joshua N. Danforth, Alexandria, D. C .; Jared Curtis, Charlestown, Mass .; Thomas Mosely, Maria Tillottson Mosely, Ann Arbor, Mich .; Lemuel Pomeroy, Aurelia Hollister Pomeroy, Monroeville, O .; Seth Burgess, Elbridge, N. Y .; Charles E. West, New York ; D. Crocker, Charleston. S. C .; W. W. Turner, Hartford, Conn .: Levi Clark, Elbridge, N. Y .; James L. Bagg, Asahel L. Smith, Syracuse, N. Y .; William Chapman, Middletown, Conn .; John Mills, Springfield. Mass .; Drake Mills, New York ; George W. Carson, Albany, N. Y .; Cal- vin Durfee, Dedham ; J. Sidney Lewis, Louisa M. Lewis, New York ; Sidney Warner, Waterloo, N. Y .; Rev. Charles Bently, Harwinton, Conn .; Cyrus W. Field, New York ; H. N. Brinsmade, Newark, N. J .; H. B. Hooker, Falmouth, Mass .; Ezekiel Bacon, Utica, N. Y .; Samuel A. Danforth, Boston ; Russell S. Cook, New York ; A. S. Hubbell, New- ark, N. J .; Isaac Hills, Rochester, N. Y .; Jerusha Kirkland Lothrop, Utica, N. Y .; Otis Mills, Samuel S. Mills, Charleston, S. C .; William B. Whitney, Corning, N. Y .; E. D. Beach, Springfield, Mass .: William J. Bacon, Utica, N. Y .; William H. Mosely, Ware Village, Mass .; Rer. Timothy Woodbridge, Spencertown, N. Y .; J. Edwards Lee, Salisbury, Conn .; Jonathan Huntington, Brooklyn, N. Y .; Charles Lombard, El- bridge, N .. Y .; D. C. Whitewood, Dexter, Mich .; Mrs. James Fowler, Westfield, Mass .; Asa Johnson and wife, East Bloomfield, N. Y .; John B. Eldridge, Hartford, Conn .; M. S. Bidwell, R. C. Wheeler, New York; J. W. Wheeler, Hyde Park, N. Y .; E. P. Woodruff, New York ; C. Gold Lee, Syracuse, N. Y .; L. Churchill. Mrs. L. Churchill, Mary Church- ill, Utica, N. Y .; Norman Leonard, Westfield, Mass .; Lyman Cobb, New York; Heman Ticknor, Kelloggsville, O .: F. B. Austin, New York ; Uriah Edwards, Cancean, N. Y .; John Saxton, New York ; Joseph H. J. Dwight, Oxford, N. Y .; Cyrus T. Francis, Albany, N. Y .; William Hendrix, Marion, Ala .; Lawrence Ford, N. Y .; James Larned, Washing- ton, D. C .; Thomas Allen, St. Louis, Mo .; Johnson Hall, Syracuse, N.Y .;
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433
GENERAL HISTORY.
Stephen W. Brown, Little Falls, N. Y .; J. Wheelock Allen, Wayland, Mass .; Cyrus A. Stowell, Streetsboro. O .; William Allen, Northampton, Mass .; David D. D. Field. Haddam, Conn .; Joel Johnson, Springfield, Mass .; Clark Wright, New York ; Charles J. F. Allen, Boston ; F. Hol- lister, Utica, N. Y ; Milo Osborne, New York ; Wells Cotton, Bloom- ington, Ill .; John P. Putnam. White Creek, N. Y .; Charles A. Dewey, Northampton, Mass .; L. A. Smith, Francis L. Griffin Smith. Newark, N. J .; John S. Stone, Aaron Pickett, Reading, Mass .; Henry C. Brace, Hartsville, N. Y .: David Mosely Hinsdale, Pontiac, Mich .: E. W. Leav- enworth, Syracuse, N. Y .; G. C. Merrill, New York ; William A. Boyd, Monroe, Mich .; Henry Clay Gates, Westfield: Noah Rossiter, Little Falls, N. Y .; Lester Keep, Fair Haven, Conn .; M. A. Curtis, Hillsbor- ough, N. C .; Lonson Nash, Gloucester, Mass .; William Buel, Litchfield, Conn .: William A. Gold, New York ; John Barnabee, York, O .; D. D. Field, Dudley Field, New York ; Mark H. Sibley, Canandaigua, N. Y .; R. R. Hubbell, Troy, N. Y .; Frederick Sedgwick, Salisbury, Conn .; Russell Austin, New York ; J. C. Chesbrough, H. P. Chesbrough, Wheat- field. N. Y .; Franklin Gay Taylor, Auburn, N. Y .: Mason Noble, C. P. Noble, Joseph Hyde, New York ; William Hyde, Ware, Mass .; Hubbard Beebe, Westfield, Mass .: Solomon B. Noble, New York : Joel Danforth, Otisco, N. Y .; Charles B. Gold, Buffalo, N. Y .; Henry Goodrich, East Greenbush ; J. C. Hubbell ; Eunice Rossiter, St. Charles, Mo .; Roswald Brown, Hartford, Conn .; Cyrania H. Hubbard, Cummington, Mass .; Chester P. Dewey, Rochester, N. Y .; Samuel R. Betts, Mrs. C. A. Betts, New York ; A. D. Matthews, Brooklyn, N. Y .; Timothy Wright, Gran- ville, Mich .; Francis Warriner, Chester, Mass .; Daniel James, Utica. N. Y .; R. M. Townsend, Troy, N. Y .; John A. Cone, Abner Hitchcock, New York ; Fred Hubbard, Boston ; Homer Bartlett, Lowell. Mass .; Emerson Davis, Westfield, Mass .; A. Robbins, Thomas Robbins, New York ; A. R. Northrop, Oneida Co., N. Y .; Eustis Hoppin, New Leba- non, N. Y .: James W. Laffin, Chicago, Ill .; L. M. Crane, R. L. Spellman, Albany, N. Y .; O. B. Pierce, Rome, N. Y .; J. H. Pierson, Elizabeth Colt, Ramapo, N. Y .: Charles S. J. Goodrich, Brooklyn, N. Y .; D. Good- rich, Albany, N. Y .; Bancroft Fowler, Greenfield, N. H .: Elizabeth P. Jackson, Schenectady, N. Y .; P. L. Brewster, Rochester, N. Y .; Mary Ruthven, New York ; Chester Dewey, Olivia P. Dewey, New York ; Eli- sha Mack, 3d, Albany, N. Y .; Asa Clinton Pierce. Granby, Mass .: A. Goggswell Frissell, South America ; J. O. B. Ford, Hamburg. S. C .; John O' Brien, Durham, N. Y .; Calvin Hall, Deerfield, N. Y .; Mrs. Harriet G. Robinson, David Goodrich, Albany, N. Y ; Mrs. Amelia Goodrich, Harman. N. Y .; Charles F. Smyth, Albany, N. Y. ; Julia Brattle Burback, Hart- ford, Conn .; Wells Fowler, Mrs. Laura Fowler, Fowlersville, N. Y .; John Henry Hopkins, Mary Hopkins, Richmond, Va .: Fanny J. Wright, Roch- ester, N. Y .; Truman Bagg, Lydia Bagg. Grafton. O .: Jesse W. Good- rich, Worcester, Mass .; H. H. Hickcox, Albany, N. Y .: Ezra Smith. Cambridge, N. Y .; Amaziah Brigham, Utica, N. Y .; Silas R. Kellogg,
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434
HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Erie, Pa .; Robert T. Ensign, Wolcottville ; Theophilus Steele, Clinton. N. Y .; Mrs. R. A. Gibbs, Blanford, Mass .; Mrs. Lucia A. Case, St. Louis, Mo .; M. C. Peppers, Edward Williams, New York ; Mason A. Shattuck, Montgomery county, Pa .; Silas Goodrich, Elbridge, N. Y .; John Wat- son, Fayetteville, N. Y .; Mrs. William A. Cook and son, Syracuse, N. Y .; C. M. Mattoon, Aurora, N. Y .; Luke Power and wife, Hudson, N. Y .; Dudley Dana, Syracuse, N. Y .; Nathan Jackson, New York ; Francis Fowler. Madison, N. Y .; W. W. Theobald, Fairfax county, Va .; Wol- cott M. Spencer, Cornelia Spencer, Springfield, O .; A. D. Eddy, Eliza- beth A. C. Eddy, Newark, N. J ; James B. Judd, Cytalan W. Fenn ; Jonathan Lee : James R. Bartholomew. New York ; George Wainwright. Florida : James Bradford, Pierre, Ill .; Egbert N. Fairchild, Ogdensburg, N. Y .; Horace Bacon, Troy, N. Y .: Daniel Bradley, Yonkers, N. Y .; Henry Churchill, Rochester, N. Y .; Charles Doolittle, Middle Granville, N. Y .; Silas W. Curtiss, Hamburg, Ga .; Joshua G. Gay, New Haven, Conn .; Horace Clark, James Hollister, Buffalo, N. Y .; Joel A. Young, Albany, N. Y .; Levi Tremain. Mrs. Tremain, Miss Eliza Tremain, Greene county, N. Y .; G. W. Francis, Martha A. Kellogg, Troy, N. Y .; Francis Deming ; Hector Whitman ; Stephen Bosworth, Catskill, N. Y .; George Thatcher Southwick. John B. Royce, Berkshire, N. Y .; E. B. Piet, New York : E. Hotchkin, Chocktaw Nation ; David Whittlesey, Berlin, Conn .; A. P. Smith, New York ; William S. Ruthven, Madison county, N. Y .; George W. Strong, New Hartford, N. Y .; George Colt, St. Augustine, Fla .: Thomas Egleston, New York ; Zenas S. Clark, Eliza R. Clark, El- bridge, N. Y .; B. Selden Cone, Chester, N. H .; Curtis C. Cady, New York ; Robert Hollister, Buffalo, N. Y .; Alpheus Osborne, North Had- ley, Mass .; David Platt, Boston : Anson B. Platt, Buffalo, N. Y .; George Colt, Kalamazoo, Mich .; H. L. Warner, Jesse Clark, Waterloo, N. Y .; H. Thompson, Little Falls, N. Y .; Nathan Brown, Oppenheim, N. Y .: Augustus F. Barnes. Boston ; Franklin Brown, Concord, N. H .; Abiatha M. Osborne, New York ; D. P. Leadbeater, Millenburg, O .; Waterman Smith, Medina. O .; Royal Willard, Rockport, O .; Samuel H. Rathbun. Burlington Falls, Vt .: John L. Dorrance, Batavia, N. Y .; John K. Dur- fee, Carbondale, Pa .; Amos Andrews, St. Louis, Mo .; Elijah Andrews, U. S. N .; Joshua A. Spencer, Utica, N. Y .; Thomas Spencer, Geneva, N. Y .; Nathaniel Kellogg, Wethersfield, Conn .; John Darby, Macon, Ga .; Jason Torry, Honesdale, Pa .; William Sturgis, Sandwich ; H. D. Web- ster, N. Webster, Troy, N. Y .; Josiah Sturgis, Nantucket ; William Sherwood, Lydia A. Kellogg, Eliza R. Sherwood, Mary Frances Sher- wood, New York ; Edward Wright, Chicago, Ill .; George Sargeant, Northampton, Mass .; Silas Metcalf, Kinderhook, N. Y .; William A. Tyler, New York ; Alvah Morrell, East Windsor, Conn .; Lucius Bulkly, Albany, N. Y .; King Strong, New Hartford ; Alvan Hollister, Euclid. O .; Herman S. Noble, Watertown, N. Y .; Oliver Allen, Wheatland, N. Y .: Orville Dewey, New York ; Alonzo Crittenden, Brooklyn, N. Y .: Joshua R. Hays, William E. Hays, Ann Eliza Hays, Albany, N. Y .; Mrs. Har-
435
GENERAL HISTORY.
: riet G. Foxcoft, Dedham, Mass .: Ovid P. Wells, New York : Frederick H. Bacon, Albany, N. Y .; Jacob W. Taylor, Cortlandville, N. Y .; E. M. Bacon, Washtenaw, Mich .; John Williams, Richfield, N. Y .; Samuel Churchill, Utica, N. Y .; S. D. Mills, Little Falls, N. Y .; Mrs. Thaddeus Joy, Charles G. Smith, Albany, N. Y .; Huet R. Root, Utica, N. Y .; Ly- man Clapp, Mrs. Lyman Clapp, New York ; Sarah Sargeant Churchill, New Lebanon, N. Y.
COUNTY SOCIETIES.
Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society .- A meeting was held at the Berkshire Athenaeum, on the 21st of January, 1878, at which the following gentlemen were present: Hon. Ensign H. Kellogg, Henry W. Taft, Esq., Hon. William R. Plunkett, Hon. James M. Barker, James W. Hull, Thomas P. Pingree, Esq., J. E. A. Smith, Robert W. Adam, John P. Brown, J. F. A. Adams, M. D., and E. G. Hubbel, curator and librarian of the Athenaeum.
At this meeting "it was proposed to form a society for the purpose of increasing an interest in archaeological science and to rescue from oblivion such historical matter as might otherwise be lost," and to pro- mote a knowledge of natural science.
It was resolved to call a meeting of the citizens of the county for this purpose on the 22d of February, 1878.
At the appointed time this meeting was held, and the society was organized by the adoption of a constitution and the election of the fol- lowing officers: Alexander Hyde, of Lee, president; Joseph White, Wil- liamstown, and James M. Barker, Pittsfield, vice-presidents; E. G. Hubbel. Pittsfield, secretary: Henry W. Taft, William R. Plunkett. Pittsfield, and Charles J. Taylor, Great Barrington, executive committee. At this meeting thirty-two gentlemen became members of the society.
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